Well, fast forward to the present: Schilling will indeed put the sock up for bidding. A photo of the famed blood-stained portion of said sock is below. Look at it, and think to yourself: would you pay $100,000 or more to own this item? Because that’s what it’s expected to take:

Keep in mind when doing your mental calculations for how much money you’d part with to own this piece of baseball history: it’s not the only bloody sock Schilling wore. It’s the only one you can own, but this one was from the World Series. And as momentous as the Sox winning their first title in 86 years was, you might view Schilling’s performance against the Yankees in the ALCS – footwear just as gory, big rivalry, 3-0 comeback – as more worthy of money equivalent to nearly four times the median American wage. You might go really frugal and not bid a dime over, say, $75,000 for the World Series sock.

But ultimately you’ll throw caution to the wind. If there’s only one way to obtain history, dammit, you will get your hands on that history. This sock was once on display in the Hall of Fame, and whatever it takes, Yankees series or no Yankees series, its next stop is a display case in your living room. As long as you have an extra six figures burning a hole in your pocket, but who doesn’t have that, really?